It is well known that fluids contained in cutaneous lesions, such as sebaceous cysts, can be the source of various communicable diseases. The health risks attendant to contact with these fluids have been especially heightened with the discovery that the disease carriers transferable by these fluids include the HIV virus associated with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Many health service providers, particularly dermatologists, surgeons, general practitioners and pediatricians are frequently exposed to the risk of contact with these fluids when performing surgical operations on cysts or other structures that contain body fluids under pressure. For example, the lancing of an inflamed sebaceous cyst, containing pressurized fluids, typically results in the forceful spraying of the fluids upon incision. Without adequate safeguards, the released fluids can spray onto the physician or attending nurses.
One known method for retarding the spray of these pressurized fluids includes loosely covering the structure with gauze padding, cloth or the like and performing the lancing procedure beneath this cover. This method is disadvantageous because the opaque cover blocks the surgeon's view of the operation.
Further, this covering method does not prevent the lateral leakage of the released fluids. The leaked fluids must be subsequently wiped away from the surrounding body surface and any fixtures to which the fluids may have traveled.